India

Be! Fund

By 2020, it is estimated that there will be over 210 million unemployed people in India – 90% will be young people. Be! is India’s first not-for-profit venture fund, investing in businesses designed and proposed by young people from low-income groups to enable them to launch businesses that effect positive change in their local communities.

Deutsche Bank has actively partnered with Be! Fund since 2011 and has been supporting young women in their social business ventures. In 2014, Deutsche Bank will fund 10 young women from various major cities in India to help them become the social entrepreneurs they were born to be.

Deutsche Bank supports Be! Fund not only financially but also through employee expertise. Our volunteers are involved in the applicant screening process and also serve as mentors to the budding entrepreneurs. For more information, please email db.asiafoundation@db.com.

Bharti Foundation

Bharti Foundation, the development arm of Bharti Enterprises, was established in 2000 with a vision to help underprivileged children and youths in India to realise their potential. In 2006, its flagship initiative, the Satya BhartiSchool Programme, was launched to provide free quality education to children in rural India, with special focus on girls. Currently, the 254 Satya Bharti Schools reach out to more than 39,000 children across six states in India.

Since 2010, Deutsche Bank has partnered with Bharti Foundation to support four Satya Bharti Schools in Ludhiana, Punjab (North India). The support takes care of these schools' operational expenditure. A particularly encouraging result is that the number of girls enrolled in the schools has increased by more than 50% over the last three years.

In 2014, Deutsche Bank will continue to support the Satya Bharti School Programme. We will work closely with the Foundation, focusing on the employee volunteer programme that will enhance teachers’ and students’ Computer, English and Comprehension skills. For more information, please email db.asiafoundation@db.com.

Karunya Trust

We all need help to realise our potential. Deutsche Bank supports Gyan Saathi, a project by the Karunya Trust in India which focuses on the rag-picker children who live beside the Deonar dump yard of Mumbai, one of the largest landfill sites in Asia. Karunya Trust aims to empower the community by providing nutrition, healthcare and education.

As part of the Deutsche Bank Asia Foundation Born to Be programme, we fund a learning centre for the children of Deonar that provides education from kindergarden to high school levels, and vocational training for youths. This is one small step to improve the lives of marginalised young people in the region so that they can have a better chance to become who they were born to be.